Japan

Japan

Because Japan has a long history of large earthquakes, its an obvious place for Miyamoto International to be active. High seismic activity here is due to its proximity to major tectonic plate boundaries, as well as its location on the well-known Pacific Ring of Fire.

While active with many clients in Japan, Miyamoto also conducted reconnaissance during the 2001 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. More than 11,000 lives were lost and the failure of seawalls in the face of the 10-meter-high tsunami also contributed to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant crisis. Most people think that designing to code means complete safety. Japan reminded us — and this is true everywhere — that codes provide minimum life safety, but do not guarantee sustainability of buildings or communities.

The implication for the rest of the world is significant. We engineers know what the worst-case scenarios may be, but rarely communicate the risk to the public and stakeholders in such a way that they understand it. And we fail to inform then that cost-effective, innovative engineering solutions exist to make structures safe and sustainable for cities.

Civilization is fragile. In 90 seconds, we lost a big piece of eastern Japan. There is no power, no gas, no food, and no water. Lives, and some communities, were lost forever. Nature has a way of proving our assumptions and standards wrong. The additional cost for smarter ways to protect civilization is insignificant compared with what ‘s at stake. We know how to do better.